Prepping for Chicon, Pt. 2

Today marks the beginning of our journey to Chicon. However, before we set out for Urubamba in the afternoon, we had to work in Occoruro.

It seems as though most of the houses have completed alacena. Therefore, we started on our next project: constructing the micro rellenos. While they didn’t look to be very hard from our orientation, we soon found out that it was going to be a long and hard day of work, exactly what we didn’t need before the strenuous hike to Chicon. Each micro relleno was to have a volume of one cubic meter, meaning that we had to first mark an area of a square meter on top before digging down an entire meter. The top part actually may have been the hardest, since we had to uproot all of the grass and break the ground with picks. After we did this, we had to push with the shovels and dig up the ground. I started to get really tired doing this, so in the middle of the day I switched to finishing the curtains and cloths for the last house in the community. I feel that I have gotten pretty good at sewing, and am really very comfortable doing it.

In the afternoon, we were supposed to go out to a chicharroneria for lunch, but we decided that it would be a little too unhealthy and filling for a meal the day before a long and strenuous hike. Instead, we went to El Tablon, a place in Cuzco that specializes in pollo a la brasa, or spit-roasted chicken marinated in a special blend of spices. I didn’t think anything could top some of the food I have had thus far in Peru, but the pollo a la brasa was out of this world. For about $5, I got a quarter chicken, a plate of fries, some cake, and a drink. The chicken was really tender on the inside and had a really tasty blend of spices on the outside that I really couldn’t identify. The easiest way I can think of to describe it is to say that it was a little spicy, but had a little salty and sour taste as well. Perhaps a marinade of salt, lemon, and hot peppers?

After lunch we went back to the office to plan for our class on Monday. Our next topic, as mentioned before, is on hand washing. We planned our skit, created a lesson, and formulated a plan for our presentation. After this, we all went back to our houses to grab our bags and say goodbye to our families until Sunday.

Finally, the journey to Chicon begins. We took a colectivo to Urubamba, a small van similar to the combis in Cuzco. Once we arrived, we walked to the ProWorld office to drop our bags off before going out to dinner. After we returned, we relaxed for a bit before turning in for the night. Starting tomorrow at 6am, we will start the journey up to Chicon.